Topics

Like most Canadians, Edmonton Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins was up early to catch the gold medal game at the Sochi Olympics on Sunday.

And along with the rest of the country, Eakins was impressed with Canada’s dominating performance over Sweden.

“The collection of players is awesome, but the biggest thing for me is how that collection of players, with such firepower as a group, said to themselves that they’re going to win by playing a great defensive game,” Eakins said. “I don’t mean just Canada’s defence, but their forwards, too. This is how you win, and especially those last two games, those were clinics on how to play hockey.

“It goes to show you, you don’t need to have to score five to six goals a night to win. If you play the game right, you have good habits and you have the mindset if the other team doesn’t score, we have a pretty good chance to win and good things are going to happen. That was a great job by the players and all their coaches. That was a clinic the last two games.”

Eakins has spent the entire season trying to preach a similar message to his troops, although his talent base is not quite the same Mike Babcock and company had in Sochi.

The Canadians, to a man, bought into the system and embraced the total team concept. Even their shifts were compact, where normally players of that stature tend to stay on the ice longer with their NHL clubs.

“I think you see that more as games become more important, guys don’t want to extend their shifts,” Eakins said. “For some reason, especially early in the regular season, guys will have been out there for that 30-second range, their heart rates are up and they’ll figure they’ll give it one more shot up the ice.

“But when you get in those game like that, you lose and you’re done, you’ll find right across the board that guys shorten their shifts. They’re so responsible when something large is on the line. But that goes back to my belief that every night something large is on the line. Your playoff hopes are on the line. I don’t care if it’s Game 1 or 7 or 82, that’s the mindset that you have to have, but that’s a very difficult thing to sell.”

While there may not have been one player that stood well above the rest for Canada, Eakins was impressed by the Chicago Blackhawks captain, who scored the opening goal in the 3-0 win over Sweden.

“I continue to be just enamoured with Jonathan Toews,” Eakins said. “That kid is a winner, he’s a leader and such a responsible player. He just knows how to win and to play and has such great habits.

“You want the guys on your own team to play the game like that. It looks like his parents have just done an unbelievable job of raising that young man. He’s well spoken and to the point and I like that he’s all business all the time. At least that’s what it looks like from far away.”

Edmonton Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins impressed by D-first attitude of Canadian Olympic men's hockey team

Like most Canadians, Edmonton Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins was up early to catch the gold medal game at the Sochi Olympics on Sunday.

And along with the rest of the country, Eakins was impressed with Canada’s dominating performance over Sweden.

“The collection of players is awesome, but the biggest thing for me is how that collection of players, with such firepower as a group, said to themselves that they’re going to win by playing a great defensive game,” Eakins said. “I don’t mean just Canada’s defence, but their forwards, too. This is how you win, and especially those last two games, those were clinics on how to play hockey.

“It goes to show you, you don’t need to have to score five to six goals a night to win. If you play the game right, you have good habits and you have the mindset if the other team doesn’t score, we have a pretty good chance to win and good things are going to happen. That was a great job by the players and all their coaches. That was a cl